Tuesday afternoon, 24th November 1992. The SW'ly wind continued to strengthen. The boats tacked upwind in wild conditions. At around 16h, the automatic pilot failed on Cacolac, the first 60-foot boat built by the Finot Group using composites, which had won the BOC Challenge the previous year with Christophe Auguin at the helm. With the ballast on the wrong side, the boat went over on her side. Yves tried to gybe to get back upwind on the other tack. During the manoeuvre, the runner holding up the mast was struck by the wind turbine. The rig collapsed. «The race is over,» was Yves' first thought, but during the night, he learnt that the manufacturer of his carbon tube — made using rolled filaments — was able to make him a new one by the end of the week. Yves set up a jury rig with his two poles and headed back to Les Sables. On Sunday 29th November, less than 48 hours after Cacolac returned to port, the mast and all its rigging, which had come from Mulhouse in Eastern France, were already waiting alongside the boat, which had moored up in the marina in Port Olona.
 
Thursday, 3rd December. After a quick trip to carry out sea trials, Yves, not taking any notice of the terrible weather that was forecast, set off again. Jacques Archambaud, the Harbour Master in Les Sables would never forget this departure. «Although the boat carried little sail, she was heeled right over, as she made her way out through the harbour entrance channel. I thought her mast would touch the harbour walls… ».
 
Sunday 6th December, off Cape Finisterre. Yves told the story about his Bay of Biscay crossing: «On Thursday afternoon, the wind gauge constantly indicated between 45 and 55 knots, with gusts reaching more than 60 knots in the squalls.» Not really surprising, as the weather forecast the previous day had announced a warning of a severe storm with force 11 winds in the sea areas Biscay and Fitzroy with high to very high seas. «I lowered the staysail and remained without any sail up for 7 hours. The next morning I hoisted the mainsail with three reefs in and the staysail.» In spite of these frightening conditions and various bits of damage (loss of his radar antenna, damaged staysail), the new mast made it unscathed through her baptism of fire. On Sunday, the wind eased off to 35 knots and after tacking away from the coast to avoid the shipping, the winner of the 1991 Figaro single-handed event finally eased out the sheets as he made his way around the tip of Spain and was able to breathe again. He was at the rear end of the fleet, 1800 miles from the leader, but remained unshaken.
 
Saturday 27th March 1993, 21 h 12’ 24’’, Yves Parlier crossed the finishing line of the second Vendée Globe in fourth place in a time of 124 days and 21 hours, taking off the nine and a half hours he was awarded for going to the help of José Ugarte, whose boat looked like sinking. After being battered in the climb back up the Atlantic swell, and suffering from a cracked hull, burst ballast tanks, ripped mainsail and broken stay, Cacolac nevertheless completed her perilous journey. In no way discouraged, the French sailor immediately declared his intention to return to the race four years later.
 
Epilogue. Yves kept his word and was up with the leaders in the 1996/97 race, until he was forced to bring his voyage to an end in Australia with a broken rudder. An unstoppable sailor, he returned in 2000 and fought a long battle with Michel Desjoyeaux at the front of the fleet, before his new machine with her tunny rig lost her mast in the southern seas. In spite of this misfortune, Yves achieved a great feat for a solo sailor: he headed for shelter off an island to the south of New Zealand, to rebuild his mast all alone — joining together two of the three broken parts and fitting the whole thing back in place, so he could complete his race. One of the great moments in the history of the round the world race, which we shall look at on another occasion.
 
Patrice Carpentier